The Happiness Salesman

What would happen if you could reset your life and do it right this time, living up to your potential. It's a loaded question for many people, including Karen (Archie Panjabi,) a single mom living in the British Suburbs, who is visited one day by a mysterious stranger (Christopher Eccleston, enigmatic like the Doctor but less benevolently so.) The stranger, who introduces himself as a salesman (see, she should have shut the door in his face right then) offers to help her- for a price. Karen, who wants to be a singer, is the mother of a perpetually crying baby, played by Aaryan Pandit (I often wonder, with horror and curiosity in equal measure, how directors make babies cry the way they do- pinch their little baby cheeks? Slap them?,) for who's existence Karen seems to bear slight regret.

I winced every time the baby emitted a high-pitched wail (sue me, I'm not a baby person,) but it would do me not good to see it hurt, but Eccleston may have something far more sinister in mind.

The acting is strong in this suspenseful horror short, which won best narrative short at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. It is somewhat predictable, and I'm not totally keen on the ideology behind the premise, but it's a helluva lot better than many shorts, even some of the one that get nominated for Oscars.

As a side note- the Youtube video quality was questionable, with the sound/visuals out of sinc, causing distraction. If you can find a better version of the film, by all means do, but if not, watch it anyway, it's worth it. And think twice when a salesman barges into your house eager to sell (philfared?) DVDs. Just a thought.